Japan, Week 6.

There were two national holidays this week, meaning that I only had work for three days! x3 So exciting~

 

Monday, just for the fun of it, I hopped on the subway and rode to Todai, or Tokyo University, just to have a look around.

 

 

One of the main gates.

 

Two of the main gates.

 

The Red Gate, the most famous one for the university.

 

 

 

This was a street near the campus, but… there was basically nothing down it xD

 

This was beside the Tokyo University Beauty Arts college.

 

 

The university hospital.

 

 

I assume he’s one of the founders. At this point everyone was glaring at me ominously so I took a picture and left through the gate that was to the left of the area xD

 

I think I was here with my dad when we were in Tokyo six years ago, but it’s been so long that I don’t remember at all. At any rate, it was a really beautiful campus and a really nice area. The streets were packed with little stores that looked like they would have been fun to go in. Unfortunately, since it was a holiday, they were all closed. xD

At the very least, I got to walk around the campus and see almost all of it~

 

 

On my way back, I decided to get off at a stop called Ōji-kamiya, just to see what was out there. Tons of people get on at this station, so I wanted to take a look around.

It’s mostly just a residential area, with tons of apartment complexes:

 

 

 

 

But there were a few restaurants and a decently-sized bookstore right outside the station, so I might visit again sometime soon.

 

After all that, I stopped into the local Mikado bakery and got myself a little treat:

 

Isn’t it cute. And it was quite delicious.

 

I made hayashi pork for dinner that night. Usually hayashi is made with beef, but beef was expensive that day, so I made it with pork because it was a bit cheaper lol.

 

 

 

I really think I might like hayashi better than curry. It just has a deeper, richer flavour. Or maybe that’s because even good homemade curry doesn’t taste quite like it’s supposed to. At any rate, right now hayashi is where it’s at for me.

 

 

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were work days.

 

 

It’s just a few days until my recording. I was sent the rough videos with timings, so I’ve been going over the translations and trying to work out the timings in my mind.

 

 

 

Apparently the office is really close to Yasukuni Shrine, the shrine for Japan’s war dead. I walked past it with a friend. When I have some more time, I will go in and take a closer look.

 

 

 

AND THERE WAS A TYPHOON.

 

You can’t tell how bad it is just from pictures, but it was pretty bad. They stopped the subway at my station (so lucky!) and then I had to get out and walk home. Usually it takes me about ten to twelve minutes to get from the station to my apartment, but I think it took me over twenty this time, because I was walking right into the driving wind and rain and I took a weaving past so I could hide behind buildings.

I wish it hadn’t been so wet so I could have taken pictures lol. But really, it was perfectly gorgeous with all the rain and the cloudy sky.

I got home before the worst of it struck, but it sounds like a lot of people that stayed at the office later than I did ended up not getting home for some five or six hours, and some actually didn’t even leave the office because it was impossible to get back with all the trains and subways shut down. I got really lucky.

 

 

My work week was pretty normal.

 

Friday, I went to Shinjuku and Akihabara!

 

 

 

 

 

 
THERE WAS A TOWER RECORD RIGHT THERE AND I DIDN’T GO IN AAAAHHHH
CURSE YOU SCOTT FOR GETTING THERE EARLY

 

 

Anyway. I met up with another ALT from the company so I could take him to the Square Enix Showcase. Before we did that, though, we went out for a curry lunch.

 

 
Coco Ichiban’ya curry. Quite good.

 

Then it was to Square Enix, which had unfortunately sold out the one thing I wanted to buy! D: But they said they would have more in stock at some point.

 

They did, however, have these very lovely Devil May Cry figures up for display. :D

 

On our way back to the station from the showcase.

As far as Final Fantasy is concerned, I’m getting a bit impatient with Square Enix. They’ve just announced that they’re going to redo Final Fantasy X in HD… but there’s still no word on a Final Fantasy VII remake, because apparently “there isn’t enough fan interest in it”. lol I don’t know where you’ve been the past ten years, SE, but there is plenty of interest, believe you me.

On the other hand, though, they’ve FINALLY put Final Fantasy Versus XIII into full production. About time. You’ve been working on it for how long, SE? More than six years? Get it out, it looks way more interesting than the other XIII games. I am still holding out for it because it looks like it is going to be fantasmically amazing.

 

 

Then we went to Akiba, but I’ve already posted about that several times and we didn’t go anywhere new, so there are no pictures of that. xD

But we did see this on the train on the way to Akiba:

And I lol’d.

 

 

And having not bought anything fun for myself on that Shinjuku/Akiba day, and having not really bought anything for myself for awhile, I decided to treat myself on Saturday when I realised the new SHOXX magazine was out:

 

It’s really a very nice photoshoot~ While I still think Uruha looks ridiculous in his new outfit, they had some shots that I found were actually quite sexy. xD It also came with a poster, but the Gazemen are only in the lower right third of it (wut) so I probably won’t be hanging it up anytime soon xD;; The magazine also had some tiny pictures of the ridiculous PS Carnival session band Aoi was the vocalist for. Good times.

Speaking of Gazemen (and I’ve been thinking this for awhile but I don’t think I’ve said it yet), we have a spectrum going on here:

 

Just switch Kai and Uruha around and you have a perfect spectrum.

THE GAZEHAIRSPECTRUM. MODELLING THE LATEST AND GREATEST IN FALL FASHION HAIR COLOURS TO MATCH YOUR HAIR NEEDS.

 

 

MOVING ON.

 

 

Also I bought myself a new wallet because I saw this awesome one on sale:

Pretty cool huh? It was half off. x3 With Jrock Engrish and a wallet chain. I’ve been wanting a wallet with a chain for years now because I always lose my wallet so easily. Even the new one I bought that was bigger I lost just because it was floating around. So now I can anchor this wallet to something. The only downside to it (other than it says “America Mad Riders”, why) is that it doesn’t have as many card slots, which won’t be as much of a problem when I get back to America and I don’t need to carry two federal ID cards, two insurance cards, two cash cards, etc.

So we’re going to give it a try over the next few weeks~ If worst comes to worst and I don’t like it as a normal wallet, I can still use it for accessorising when I go out more rock-styled.

There was another really nice-looking one with print on the front that said “Murder Riders”, but I decided against that one. xD I liked this one better anyhow.

 

 

 

FOODSTUFFS.

I finally found some dashiiri miso so that I can make miso soup really quickly. Usually for miso, you make dashi and then add the miso paste to it, but that’s a tiiiny bit time consuming, so now it’s just two in one.

 

 

For dinner yesterday, since I bought a huge half-head of cabbage, I made “okonomiyaki” sandwiches. Which is nothing like okonomiyaki other than it was cabbage and egg, and then I put some okonomi sauce and mayo on it. But it was pretty good, all things considered. Would have been better with bacon, of course. xD

 

 

I got this parfait for lunch on Thursday, and it was soooo yummy *____*

 

 

 

I made fake sukiyaki for dinner tonight. I know everything probably looks all the same to you, but it all tastes quite different. xD Usually you make sukiyaki in a large grill and you take out what you want when it’s all finished cooking. I just made a whole mess of it in my skillet using onion, beef, and leek in sukiyaki tare and I had it over rice and added a raw egg to it. Quite good. It will be my lunch for the next couple of days. xD

 

 

 

 

 

I think I’m suffering from heat exhaustion, especially after I go out and come home. On reentering the flat I get really sick and dizzy and severely fatigued, and it’s hard for me to muster even the strength to climb up to bed to lie down for a few minutes. I’ve been really tired and weak all the time too. I’ve been pretty good for the most part on getting the AC running just as I’m leaving so that it will be a bit cooler once I get back, but a couple of times in the past week I have forgotten and those times when I get home, the impact is worse. Usually if I lie down for ten or fifteen minutes, I feel well enough to get back up and go about my life, but the fatigue and sickness and weakness lingers.

I’ve been making sure I drink a decent amount of water too, and I get seven to eight hours of sleep every night (which is really a miracle), but I’m still exhausted all the time. Maybe it’s the diet, or maybe it’s the work, or maybe it’s just getting used to a new country, even though I am quite comfortable here. At any rate, I’m trying very hard to keep exercising and eat and drink enough, and to slow down and take a break when I feel like I’ve been hit by a car. I’m hoping that if it is heat exhaustion, that by staying inside as much as I can tolerate it and keeping the apartment cool and drinking plenty of cool water, it will quickly pass. Hopefully the outside temperature will start to go down soon and then there won’t be so much worry.

Regardless of what it might be, I love it here. I really think that they could just keep me in this little Leopalace for years, and I could do my work for years, and I would be perfectly happy and content. I only wish it could be that way. The thought of going back to America fills me with more dread every day.

I think the only two things I really miss about America are my car and my guitar. xD

Getting around isn’t a problem, that’s not what I miss the car for. But I miss the freedom of being able to get up and go wherever I want, whenever I want, with whatever music I want as loud as I want. I love the public transportation here and I don’t mind the walking, but to me driving is really relaxing and I love it, so I miss my car a lot. Again, that sense of freedom with it, and being able to be alone as I travel to whatever destination I may choose, and being able to think and ponder as I travel in my own space, is something I miss.

And I miss my guitar for the companionship. I miss being able to play and feel myself making music, even if it’s nothing I’ve composed on my own. I’m really itching to pick it up and work some of these wonderful songs out. I didn’t play it enough last year and I’m really regretting it now. Once I get home, I’ll be picking it back up and be better about dedicating time to it.

I also miss the bass. I didn’t get very much done with it, but I loved the deep and masculine sound and feel of it. I’ll have to work on that more when I get back, too.

And the more I listen to music and the more I watch concerts the more I wish I’d been able to learn drums while I was still in school. I wish I could learn them now, but they’re so expensive.

 

… Wow that was a tangent and extremely sentimental. Sorry guys. xD

 

AT ANY RATE. That was this week. This upcoming week, I have the storybook recordings at the studio! Otanoshimi ni~

Japan, Week 5.

The week where stuff crashed a bit. D:

 

 

Taylor was suddenly called to go down south to Tokushima on Shikoku (a whole different island) and he’ll be there for about a month. I am missing the companionship a lot, but life goes on.

 

I did a lot of work this week, so there aren’t many pictures for now… this is what I’ve got.

 

 

 

It sounds so ominous……

 

 

I got the recording part! :D I’ll be recording three storybook stories, and I’ll also be credited as the translator. I’m very excited! I’ll be going to a real studio and everything. That will be in two weeks. Otanoshimi ni~
(Everyone at the office insists on making things difficult on themselves and spelling my name the English way instead of just writing it in kanji, haha…)

 

 

Creeeeeeeperrrrr

 

 

Here is a poster to lighten your day. No touching schoolgirls or any girls under 20, because they are underage and your crime will be punished.
I’m so glad this was posted up for everyone to see O_o But it’s that big a problem.

 

 

 

Everyone went on trips last week, so I got a lot of omiyage at the office:

 

Takoyaki-flavoured senbei (rice crackers). Here, there are regular sauce and mayo-takoyaki ones. There was another one that I think was barbeque sauce…

 

 

This one was a manjuu with roughly-ground an. Quite good, and the package was pretty~

 

 

Sapporo curry crisps. These were super-spicy! ∬°Д°∬

 

 

Hakata You~ This was a manjuu with a sweet filling. I’m not sure what the filling was, but it was very good, and it was my favourite of the omiyage from this week :D

 

 

 

 

Daily life.

 

 

This is what my breakfast generally is: yogurt with some blueberry (or strawberry) jam and cornflakes.
But now I’m out of yogurt so it will just be cornflakes for awhile xD;; Until I feel like unsweetened yogurt again.

 

 

Fried rice with lots of vegetable matter! Also with beef. Why beef? Because beef was on sale bigtime (it was like… ¥99 for a pound) and I was in need of some rich protein since I hadn’t had any in weeks. It’s hard to tell just how much rice this was from the picture but it was -a ton- of rice. I made it Friday night and I will probably be eating the leftovers for another day or two. It reheats really nicely and is good with some Japanese mayo and okonomiyaki sauce~ Plus it has a ton of vegetation in it xD Onions, lettuce, cabbage, carrots, corn, and peas.

 

 

Then I went out and finally bought some much-needed household items. Because you never realise just how much you need them until you don’t have them.

 

The cutest one was this little broom set I got at the Daiso. My kitchen isn’t very big so I only needed a little hand broom. Look at how happy it is!

 

 

I also got a couple of new bentou so that I didn’t have to wash my one every night. One is the same style and pattern as my first one, only bigger, and the other is a new pattern and colour with little sakura and doves. Aww.

 

 

THE BIGGEST NEWS IS THIS:

 

My Gazeposter that came with REMEMBER THE URGE is now in a frame! And it looks so nice~
(I only wish they hadn’t used the stock photo… xD But it’s still very nice)

 

 

It’s up on the wall also, so now my living room feels a bit more personal and more like home.
I’ll be getting a poster with TOXIC also, so I’ll have to decide if I want to get another frame or just replace this one. But we’ll have to see what it looks like first. x3

 

 

The other wall is my Wasuremono wall. Wasuremono ga ooi! I tape everything up on this wall that I need to remember, because otherwise I’ll forget. For now, I have all my course contracts up, my address and the company’s address, my schedule for the month, my paperwork reminders, reminders for what I need to pack every day, my receipt for the GazettE concert, and chore charts and such.

 

 

Here is my “chore chart”, so that I will remember to tidy up.
”Hurry up and do it! A clean house is the best house!”

 

 

Also yesterday I tried a little something with my hair. I’m no good at cornrows so I faked it out and just did some twists up. I did them bigger so I could get used to it, but I think they look kind of cool, so next time I’ll make them a bit smaller and give that a try. Also I’ll make sure I angle them all the same way so I don’t get two colliding like I did this time.
(Also don’t laugh at the bobby pins this is my first time using them)

 

 

 

 

I’ve been feeling really weak and tired all this week, and it’s sort of built up until now. I had a hard time earlier today, and I got sick of being inside and my mind wandering back to my life in America, which I don’t really want anything to do with right now and haven’t for some time, so I got up and went on an hour and a half-long walk around Hatogaya.

I didn’t really go anywhere new and I took maybe half an hour of that browsing through stores just to see what was there, but it was nice to get up and blast my music really  loud while I was on the street. I’ve been needing that for awhile, so now I feel a bit refreshed and settled.

Pictures.

 

 

 

 

It got dark pretty quickly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wanted to get a parfait to celebrate making it to my first paycheck, but I didn’t find any that looked good that weren’t basically all coffee, so I decided to break into this instead:

 

 

A gigantic bottle of ginger ale.

 

 

 

 

That’s it for last week. This week has two national holidays, so I have tomorrow off and I have Friday off. I think I might go explore around one of the free tube stops I have between here and work for awhile before I come back and do some homework. Friday, I’ll be going to Shinjuku and maybe Akihabara with a friend. I’ll also be deciding in the next day or two if I’ll be getting myself a ticket to opening day of Venomous Cell, since it happens to fall on a holiday (if I spoke Japanese I would have noticed that sooner and got a fanclub seating ticket to it. As it stands I didn’t because I’m a dumbface).

 

( *｀ω´)ゞ